(Calgary) The Calgary Flames have offered the general manager job to their former player and organization member Craig Conroy, who has no experience in the field.
And the Flames announced the 51-year-old American will be their next general manager in a statement released on Tuesday.
Conroy learned the ropes from Brad Treliving, who left the Flames in April after nine years with the team. Don Maloney, the president of hockey operations, served as interim general manager pending Conroy’s promotion.
“Thank you to the Flames owners for the confidence they have shown me by giving me this opportunity,” said Conroy. Over the past 12 years, I have given a lot of time in all aspects of hockey operations to prepare for this day.
“I am ready to take on this challenge and I promise our fans that our team will do the work necessary to make them proud and give them a championship.”
Team Alberta also announced the arrival of former Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nunes, who has been named vice president of hockey operations and assistant general manager for the team.
Conroy served as assistant general manager for the Flames for nine seasons after playing just over 1,000 games in the NHL, half of them with the Southern Alberta club.
Shortly after announcing his retirement in 2011, Conroy joined the Flames management team as a special assistant to Guy Pfister, who was the general manager at the time.
First, Conroy would have to hire a new head coach, in order to allow the organization to regain some stability after a turbulent few weeks.
Daryl Sutter shot 1any May, less than two weeks after the Flames announced the departure of Treliving, who declined a contract extension with the team last year.
Conroy’s future hiring would mark the Flames’ fifth coaching change in eight years.
Treliving has recently made some big moves to the team, signing free agent Nazim Qadri and acquiring winger Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman McKenzie Wigar in trades with the Florida Panthers.
Treliving made the additions because superstar Johnny Goudreau decided to sign with the Columbus Blue Jackets and because Matthew Tkachuk, who was a restricted free agent at the time, wanted to leave Calgary.
Kadri and Huberdeau, who only have a 15-year contract worth $133 million, didn’t chemistry very well with Sutter and were producing well below their personal highs.
The Flames missed the playoffs by two points, having reached the second round of the playoffs in 2022.
Conroy will soon turn his attention to the NHL Draft, which will be held June 28-29 in Nashville, Tenn. flame holds 16H Selects in aggregate in the first round.
Meanwhile, five Flames players will be free agents with no strings attached this summer, including forwards Nick Ritchie, Milan Lucic and Trevor Lewis as well as defenders Michael Stone and Troy Stecher.
Forwards Mikael Backlund, Elias Lindholm, Tyler Toffoli and Dillon Dobbie still have a year left on their contracts, as do defenders Noah Hanifen, Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov.
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